JAN MEDIA REVIEWS
Edited by Graham R. Williamson
Your Undergraduate Dissertation: the Essential
Guide for Success
by Nicholas S.R. Walliman.
Sage, London, 2005, 275 pages, £13Æ99,
ISBN 0 7619 4140 1.
The primary purpose of this book is to help undergraduate
students understand how a research dissertation may be
formulated. An initial striking feature is that this book is not
written with specific reference to nursing research. The book
comprises twenty chapters each with a specific focus and
progresses in a logical manner. First, the book commences
with chapters on the purpose of dissertations and the differ-
ent types of dissertations that may be written. The intangible
aspect of being motivated to commence, carry out and com-
plete a dissertation is considered. Second, formulating a research
idea, searching the literature relevant to this idea and thinking
about the philosophy to underpin one’s study are examined.
Third, how to write a research proposal is addressed. Fourth,
chapters eleven to sixteen are concerned with research
methods. Quantitative and qualitative methods of data collec-
tion and analysis are examined as is the issue of maintaining
ethical integrity within one’s study. Finally, chapters seventeen to
twenty are concerned with the writing up of a final research
report with attention being given to writing style, accurate
referencing and dissemination of the report and its findings. In
conclusion, this book provides a clear and accurate description of
how one may formulate a research report. Indeed, if not in the
process of writing a research report, one may still use this book
as a general research textbook. Although not written with
specific reference to nursing, the content of the book is clearly of
relevance to nurses engaged in undergraduate or post graduate
research.
Declan Patton BNS PGDipED MSC RPN RNT
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems,
Health Science Centre, University College Dublin,
Dublin, Ireland
Ó 2006 The Author. Journal compilation Ó 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Who Should we Treat? Rights, Rationing and
Resources in the NHS
by Christopher Newdick.
Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 2005, 278 pages, £50,
ISBN 0 1992 6417 1.
Newdick explains why, as a result of both past and present
government policies and legislation, the question, ‘Who should
we treat?’ is unanswerable at present. He therefore restates the
case for government-led explicit, ‘clear priorities’, particularly
given the growing number of legal challenges against refusals by
United Kingdom (UK) Primary Care Trusts to fund expensive
treatments of sometimes doubtful utility.
This is not a text on ‘ethics’. However, the author readily
acknowledges the necessary contribution of ethical considera-
tions in decision making, particularly when discussing the use of
the quality adjusted life year (QALY) in resource allocation
decisions, and the tensions inherent in reconciling clinical
freedom and the obligation not to ‘waste’ scarce UK National
Health Service (NHS) resources. He examines ideas of a ‘right’ to
health, in contrast to a ‘right’ to health care.
The book also displays an impressive grasp of detail, both of
the structures of the NHS and the challenges facing those who
work in it. As expected from a lawyer, there is both description
and analysis of the legal framework within which the organisa-
tion is expected to operate. The principles of judicial review and
the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on decision making by
public bodies are clearly analysed, as are medical negligence and
the governance of resource allocation.
Although firmly rooted in UK health policy and legislation,
this exceptionally comprehensive book will be of interest to those
in other countries studying the UK healthcare system. This is an
excellent text for UK healthcare professionals of all disciplines
wishing to make some sense of the seemingly intractable
resourcing problems besetting the NHS.
Diane Cockayne BA LLM RGN RHV
Lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery,
University of Sheffield,
Sheffield, UK
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